Mark Pincus says agency has shaped both his business life and his home life, and he applies it the same way to his 5 children as he once did to employees. The founder of Zynga says that approach has helped him raise children with learning differences or disabilities while keeping pressure off achievement.
“In business, I've always given people so much responsibility that it scares them a little,” he said. “Whenever I give my children agency, it unlocks developmental leaps.” He is a father of five, and three of his children have learning differences or disabilities.
Wyatt and agency
Wyatt is 12 years old, was born with a gene deletion and is developmentally delayed, but Pincus says he recently started talking in sentences and expressing himself verbally. Wyatt also had to wear a helmet because he would get frustrated and hit his head, and a respected feeding specialist once strapped him into a chair to essentially force-feed him.
Pincus says things changed when he let Wyatt eat when he was hungry. He said Wyatt found agency through skiing and swimming, and that Wyatt loved to ski independently when he could not talk and had constant caregivers.
Georgia, Carmen and college
15 years old is the age of Georgia and Carmen, and Pincus says Georgia is very academically minded while Carmen has ADHD and dyslexia. He also says Carmen has incredible grit and worth ethic, and that he is open to his daughters going to college even as he says he is fine with them not going.
“The value of a computer science degree is going up, not down, I believe,” he said. “I try not to push achievement on my children.” He also said the actual coding might not matter in the world of AI, while learning the mindset of machine programming is more valuable than ever.
San Francisco buildings at 16
When his twin daughters were little, Pincus gave them a credit card and told them to pay for dinner, part of the same responsibility-first style he says he uses in business. Now he is preparing them to take over management for two commercial buildings he owns in San Francisco when they turn 16.
18 months is the age of his youngest child, who has genetic developmental delays, and Pincus says his goal is to “meet our kids where they are and tune in to what engages them.” He contrasts that with his father, who was very achievement-oriented and focused on building a resume, and says he wants to fan the flames of curiosity without applying pressure.
